NORSE DISCOVERIES 
IN AMERICA. 



JUUL DiESERUD, A.M. 



reprinted from 

Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, 

February, 1901. 



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j~^ cL^'V^zj'/L^^'^ 



NORSE DISCOVERIES IN AMERICA. 



JUUL DIESERUD, A.M. 

Discredited at the start, the Norse claim of the discovery of the 
American continent five centuries before Columbus has gradually 
gained a respectful hearing from American scholars, and to-day, nine 
hundred years after the interesting event, stands finally admitted 
in the opinion of those best qualified to judge the question. 

In preparing a commemorative essay on the subject it is there- 
fore, fortunately, not necessary to enter into an elaborate defence of 
the correctness of the main features of the Icelandic sagas as handed 
down to us in several well-authenticated manuscripts from the 14th 
century, corroborated as they are by a number of striking refer- 
ences, dating back to the middle of the nth, to the testimony of 
the cautious and entirely disinterested Adam of Bremen. 

The question now before the historian and antiquarian is not 
whether the hardy Norse sailors of the nth century reached the 
American continent after having established themselves in its ante- 
chamber — Greenland. The question is how far south they pro- 
ceeded, and whether or not they established a permanent settlement 
in any of the newly-discovered regions. The first of these points 
can only be settled in one of two ways. Either there must be dis- 
covered unmistakable archaeological traces of the Norsemen of that 
remote period or the geographical hints and descriptions given in 
the sagas may be followed and a locality fixed upon, chiefly by a pro- 
cess of exclusion. 

The former of these methods has repeatedly been employed, its 
climax having been reached in the well-meaning but exceedingly 
doubtful conjectures of Prof. E. N. Horsford. All attempts along 
this line thus far have, however, been fruitless of results, and the 
verdict of Prof. John Fiske, in his interesting monograph, "The 
Discovery of America," to the effect that "not a single vestige of 



2 Norse Discoveries in America. 

the Northmen's presence here at all worthy of credence has ever 
been found," can probably safely be subscribed to by friends as well 
as by enemies of the Norse claim. 

It is different with the indications given in the sagas, although 
nothing like unanimity has as yet been established with regard to 
the conclusions drawn from them. The chief difficulty rests in the 
fact that these sagas give two somewhat conflicting versions of the 
story, one of which must be more genuine than the other. Most 
writers, like Anderson, De Costa, and Horsford, have failed to 
acknowledge this, although the last had access to two valuable 
treatises on the subject, viz.: Prof. G. Storm's "Studies on the 
Vinland Voyages " and Mr. A. M. Reeves' photographic reproduc- 
tion of the manuscripts, with a careful English translation. 

Of the two versions, the more recent — the one found in the 
so-called Flatoe-book, a manuscript compiled from older sources 
about 1387 — was at first more generally known, and for a long time 
accepted as the best authority. It has, however, gradually been 
losing ground as a consequence of the severe criticism brought to 
bear upon it by Prof. Storm, and later by Mr. Reeves. According 
to this version, of which an excellent translation is given in Mr. 
Reeves' book, the real discoverer of Wineland was one Bjarni Her- 
julfson, who, about 987, accidentally drifted upon some unknown 
regions far to the southwest of Iceland, whence he was trying to 
cross over to Greenland. Some fifteen years later Leif, a son of 
Erik the Red, the earliest settler in Greenland, went to explore the 
unknown regions. He struck land to the south in three differ- 
ent places, calling them in succession Helluland (Flat-stone-land), 
Markland (Forestland), and Vinland (Wineland), the latitude of 
the latter being approximately determined by the observation that 
" the sun had both eykt-position and breakfast-position on the short- 
est day of winter."* The saga then makes Leif's brother Thorvald 
undertake a separate expedition and explore the country to the 
west and northeast from the place in Wineland where Leif had had 
his winter quarters, next gives a curtailed and suspicious account of 
Thorfin Karlsefni's expedition — to be considered later — and finally 
makes Erik's natural daughter Freydis go there, accompanied by 
two brothers, Helgi and Finbogi. On this version Prof. Storm 
passes a very severe verdict. He points out that no mention what- 
ever has been found elsewhere of Bjarni, whereas it is stated in at 
least half-a-dozen places that Leif Erikson discovered Wineland on 
a return trip from Norway. The saga places glaciers in Helluland, 

* Sol hafdi thar eyktarstad ok dagmalastad um skamdegi. 



Author. T>5U 



Norse Discoveries in America. 3 

makes the grapes of Wineland ripen in winter, and employs a Ger- 
man with the strange name of Tyrker to discover them. Concern- 
ing the geography of Wineland the Professor says: 

" It, on the whole, gives one the impression of a coast on the north, extending far 
to the east and west, and with several firths running in toward the south. One has 
to indulge in such an arbitrary construction of the sagas as did Prof, kafn in order to 
, make this description fit the coasts of North America. Weighing all that has been 
said, it will, I certainly think, be safest to treat the account of the Flatoe-book with 
the utmost circumspection. Whatever has its only origin there must be rejected, and 
whatever is found at variance with early traditions regarded as wanting historical 
foundation. The voyage of Bjarni ought, I think, to be dropped entirely to leave 
room for that of Leif Erikson." 

A far more consistent and probable story is the one given in the 
Hauks-book, a manuscript of the very beginning of the 14th cent- 
ury — at any rate, not later than 1334— written by the learned Hauk 
Erlendson, a descendant of the chief explorer, Thorfin Karlsefni. 
According to this version, Wineland was discovered by the above- 
mentioned Leif Erikson. He had been on a visit to Norway, had 
met the famous Olaf Trygvason (who succeeded in converting him 
to Christianity), and in the summer or fall of the year 1000 was 
returning to his home in Greenland. He was, however, driven out 
of his course and came upon an unknown country. There were 
self-sown wheatfields and vines growing there, and also some trees 
called "mauser," of which he took some specimens with him. On 
his arrival in Greenland he reported his accident, and naturally 
awakened a lively interest in the new regions. Leif set about con- 
verting his relatives and neighbors to Christianity; but his brother 
Thorstein made an unsuccessful attempt to reach the strange coun- 
try. A few years later one Thorfin Thordarson, called Karlsefni, 
an Icelander, who had recently arrived in Greenland and married 
Thorstein's widow, Gudrid, determined to make an effort to explore 
the unknown lands. Accompanied by Thorvald, another of the 
sons of Erik the Red, one Bjarni Grimolfson, and Thorhall, called 
the Huntsman, who was married to Erik's natural daughter Freydis, 
who went with her husband, he sailed with four vessels and one 
hundred and fifty followers to the western settlement and Bear 
Island, and thence bore away to the southward for two "doegr. "* 
They saw land before them,f "and found there large flat stones 

* The " doegr " represents a period of twelve hours. A good " doegra sail" 
seems, according to the best authorities, to have covered something like one hundred 
and eight miles. 

f The quotations are from Mr. Reeves' book, but I have frequently compared his 
translation with the reproduction of the original manuscripts. 



4 Norse Discoveries in America. 

(hellur), many of them twelve ells wide. There were many Arctic 
foxes there. They gave a name to the country and called it Hellu- 
land. Then they sailed with west-northwesterly (or, as one version 
has it, northerly) winds for two ' doegr ' and found a wooded coun- 
try and many wild beasts. An island lay off the land to the south- 
east, and there they found a bear, and later called it Bear Island, 
but the mainland Markland (Forestland). When two more 'doegr' 
had elapsed they again discovered land and approached it; there 
was a cape there. The land lay upon the starboard ; there were 
long strands and sandy banks there. They rowed to the land and 
found upon the cape the keel of a ship, and called it Kjalarnes 
(Keelness) ; they also called the strands Furdustrandir (Wonder- 
strands), because they were so long to sail by. Then the country 
became indented with bays, and they steered their ships into a bay." 

The saga then relates how they lay by there, while two swift 
Gaels — Haki and Hekja — of their party were dispatched to the 
south to investigate the nature of the country. They staid away 
for three days, and returned with self-sown wheat and a bunch of 
grapes. " They went to their ships and proceeded on their voyage. 
They sailed into a bay. There was an island out at the mouth of 
the bay about which there were strong currents, wherefore they 
called it Straumey (Stream Isle). There were so many birds there 
that it was scarcely possible to step between the eggs. They 
sailed through the bay, and called it Straumfjord (Streamfirth), 
carried their cargoes ashore from the ships, and established them- 
selves there. They had brought with them all kinds of live stock. 
It was a fine country there; there were mountains thereabouts." 

After having related how they ran short of food in the rather 
severe winter there and captured a whale, the saga tells how Thor- 
hall, dissatisfied with the outlook on the eastern coast, decided to 
retrace his course and round Kjalarnes in search of Wineland (not 
to " explore " it, as wrongly translated by many). He reached 
the cape, but was there met by westerly gales, and finally driven 
ashore in Ireland, where he lost his life, "according to that which 
traders have related." Karlsefni, however, cruised southward with 
Snorri and Bjarni and their people. "They sailed for a long time, 
and until they came at last to a river which flowed down from the 
land into a lake and so into the sea. There were great bars at 
the mouth of the river, so that it could only be entered at high 
flood-tide. Karlsefni and his men sailed into the mouth of the 
river and called it there Hop (a small land-locked bay). They 
found self-sown wheatfields on the land; wherever there were hoi- 



Norse Discoveries in America. 5 

lows and wherever there was hilly ground there were vines. Every 
brook was full of fish. They dug pits on the shore where the tide 
rose highest, and when the tide fell there were halibut in the pits. 
There were great numbers of wild animals in the woods. They 
remained there half a month and enjoyed themselves and kept no 
. watch. They had their live stock with them." 

Then one morning a great number of men in skin canoes came 
paddling toward them and went ashore, staring curiously at the 
strangers. "They were swarthy men and ill-looking, and the hair 
of their heads was ugly; they had large eyes and broad cheeks." 
After a little while they rowed away to the southward around the 
cape. Karlsefni and his men now built huts above the lake and 
prepared to stay there that winter. "No snow came there and 
all of their live stock lived by grazing." In the spring the natives 
again appeared and began to trade with the foreigners, but finally, 
distrusting their intentions, took to the warpath, killing two of 
their number. Although Karlsefni succeeded in beating them back 
with heavy loss, he now determined to leave this dangerous neigh- 
borhood and return to Streamfirth, where the party arrived after 
a couple of unimportant incidents. The narrator here cautiously 
remarks that some say that Bjarni and Freydis had remained here 
(all the time) with a hundred men, while only Karlsefni and Snorri 
had proceeded to the southward with forty men, tarrying at Hop 
barely two months and returning again the same summer. 

"Karlsefni then set out with one ship in search of Thorhall 
the Huntsman, but the greater part of the company remained 
behind. They sailed to the northward around Keelness, and then* 
bore to the westward, having land to the larboard. The country 
there was a wooded wilderness as far as they could see, with scarcely 
an open space, and when they had journeyed a considerable dis- 
tance a river flowed down from the east toward the west. They 
sailed into the mouth of the river and lay to by the southern bank." 
After having told how one morning they discovered what seemed 
to be a uniped, and that Thorvald, another son of Erik the Red, 
was shot by him, the saga goes on to tell how they sailed away 
back toward the north [the direction is plainly stated], and believed 
they had got sight of the unipeds. They concluded that the mount- 
ains of Hop and those which they had now found were the same, 
"and this appeared to be so, because they were about an equal 

* " Ok berr tha fyrir vestan fram " can also be translated; " and then proceeded 
[southward] on the western coast," this being clearly the opinion of the author, as 
shown later. 



6 Norse Discoveries in America. 

distance removed from Streamfirth both ways." They sailed back 
and passed the third winter at Streamfirth. In the spring, how- 
ever, they decided to return to Greenland. "When they sailed 
across from Wineland they had a southerly wind, and so came upon 
Markland, where they found five skrellings — one man, two women 
and two children. They captured the boys, but the others escaped 
and 'sank into the earth.'" These boys they took with them 
arrived safely in Greenland (there is no mention here of Hellu- 
land), and remained during the winter with Erik the Red. 

The above is, in the words of Prof. Fiske, " a sober, straight- 
forward and eminently probable story." He points out how it 
would hardly occur to European fancy to invent such a thing as 
self-sown wheat. He is, however, undoubtedly wrong in thinking 
it was Indian corn, because a plant so strikingly unlike anything 
with which these Icelanders were familiar would surely have been 
described by them in other terms.* He calls attention to the fact 
that savages were practically unknown to Europeans before the 
15th century, that they knew nothing whatever about peoples who 
would show surprise at the sight of an iron tool, or terror at the 
voice of a bull, or who would eagerly trade off valuable property for 
worthless trinkets — incidents which, for want of space, could not 
be quoted in the preceding summary. He thinks that the descrip- 
tion of the skrellings (inferior people), with their " swarthy hue, 
ferocious aspect, ugly hair, big eyes and broad cheeks," will do 
very well for Indians, the "big eyes" probably referring to the 
eye-sockets, as suggested by Prof. Storm. The expression skin- 
boats, of course, rather points to the kayaks of the Eskimo than 
to the Indian canoe. This inaccuracy can, however, be accounted 
for on the ground that the explorers failed to examine the material 
of the boats, and simply inferred that, as a matter of course, they 
must be made of skin, since they were not wooden keel-boats. 
They may, furthermore, have had an opportunity of examining a 
boat in Markland, where the inhabitants met with, living in caves, 
probably were Eskimos. In the " flat stone," Prof. Fiske, with 
good reason, recognizes the familiar tomahawk, and in the big ball, 
raised upon the end of a pole, the "demon's head " — according to 
Mr. Schoolcraft, commonly used among the Algonquins in exactly 

* The first to point out that the self-sown wheat of the sagas in all probability 
was wild rice (Zizania aquatica) was, I believe, Prof. Schubeler, of the University of 
Chrisliania. His theory has been accepted by Prof. Storm and Mr. Reeves. In Vol. 9 
of the American Anthropologist, Mr. G. C. Stickney has an interesting article on tlie 
Indian use of wild rice, the " folles avoines " of early French explorers. 



Norse Discoveries in Arnerica. 7 

the manner described in the saga. He concludes by saying: 
" Throughout the account it seems to me perfectly clear that we 
are dealing with Indians." 

Before attempting to reach some opinion with regard to the 
locality of Wineland, it will now be necessary to devote a little 
.additional attention to the relative merits of the two sagas. Person- 
ally I believe, with Prof. Storm, that the older Hauks-book, a manu- 
script written by a descendant of Karlsefni, Hauk Erlendson, tells 
by far the best-authenticated and consistent story. It is a narrative 
that was preserved, we may be sure, with great faithfulness and care 
in the family of Thorfin, the true explorer of the country, among 
whose descendants were counted three bishops and many other 
prominent men. It was inherited from father to son for some three 
generations and probably reduced to writing in the first part of the 
1 2th century, getting its present shape some 150 years later at the 
hands of the learned Hauk. Being a family history, it is, of course, 
possible that these descendants, including the last editor, con- 
sciously or unconsciously dragged into the story of Thorfin's expe- 
dition incidents that did not belong there, and more especially laid 
hold of the expeditions of Thorvald and Freydis in order to make 
their ancestor the first and only explorer of the country. The saga, 
however, does not show any tendency to magnify the personal 
qualities of Thorfin; he nowhere plays the role of a mythical hero 
or plumed knight, but the story is in the main plain and probable. 

Turning to the version of the Flatoe-book, it presents, as pointed 
out by Prof. Storm and Mr. Reeves, a great number of weak points. 
It is evidently founded on narratives preserved in the family of 
Erik the Red — a somewhat problematical character — and the brag- 
ging tone and many fanciful incidents related stand in a marked 
contrast to the sober tale of Hauk. The final compiler or some 
predecessor did not, it seems, like the inconspicuous role played by 
Leif and his family in the exploration of the country, or perhaps 
had somehow really got the mistaken idea that Leif went to Wine- 
land from Greenland. He, therefore, borrowed incidents and de- 
scriptions from the story of Thorfin, constructed Tyrker in analogy 
with Haki and Hekja, and made Leif erect his booths near a lake 
from which a river went out into the sea. It then became necessary 
to make somebody else discover the country explored by Leif. 
The saga of Thorfin mentioned one Bjarni Grimolfson ; and another 
man, Herjulf, probably was among Erik's early followers. This 
may have given the clue to the story of Bjarni Herjulfson, mentioned 
absolutely nowhere else. Thinking that Leif's brother, Thorhall, 



8 Norse Discoveries in America. 

played too small a part in the story, by only accompanying 
Thorfin, he next made him undertake a separate expedition and 
supply the keel for Kjalarnes. It then became necessary to reduce 
Thorfin's followers from 150 to 60 and to curtail his story in various 
ways. Finally, an incident related of the stalwart Freydis and the 
short mention of some quarrels caused by the women during the 
last winter in Straumfjord sets somebody's imagination working 
till we get a gruesome tale of her separate expedition to Wineland 
in company with the brothers Helgi and Finbogi. This may seem 
to be a hazardous conjecture, but it is substantially the view adopted 
by Prof. Storm and Mr. Reeves, and the only way out of it is to 
regard the saga of Thorfin as the result of a similar process. 

But even the saga of Thorfin cannot evidently be treated as a 
modern description of travel. No extensive report of the expedition 
could have been committed to writing before the beginning of the 
12th century.* 

Ari Frodi, the Father of Icelandic historiography, lived then, and 
in his abridged Islendinga-book makes a short but significant 
reference to Wineland and the Skrellings, claiming the authority of 
his uncle, Thorkel Gellison, who in his turn said he had it from a 
follower of Erik the Red. A larger "Book of the Icelanders," 
by Ari, is known to have existed, and may have given a somewhat 
extended account of the discovery; but even this is conjecture. 

Bearing this clearly in mind, we are bound to admit that certain 
details were in the nature of things more liable to be corrupted than 
others during those more than a hundred years of oral tradition; 
though the memory of those early Norse saga-narrators surely was 
wonderful. Among such details, naturally, are the number of "doegr " 
consumed in sailing between the different regions visited. This num- 
ber is in Hauks-book uniformly placed at two, which is in itself sus- 
picious. Mr. Reeves points out the similarity between p(-thvau, two) 
vau and siau (seven), and suggests that the latter had been given 
in an earlier manuscript in the first of the places where two occurs. 
Prof. Storm calls attention to the fact that the saga-narrator evi- 
dently placed Kjalarnes in the latitude of Ireland, where we find it 
on the map of Stephanius (1570). And as it took six "doegr" to 
sail from Iceland to Ireland, he probably wrongly concluded that 
the voyage from Bjarney to Kjalarnes was accomplished in the same 
length of time. It is also significant in this connection that the 
Flatoe-book gives two, three and four " doegr '' for the different dis- 

* There are very insufficient grounds indeed for the statement of Fiske that it 
may have been committed to writing already in the middle of the nth century. 



Norse Discoveries in America. & 

tances traversed by Bjarni Herjulfson. Somewhat less liable to be 
misrepresented would be the shape of the country and the approximate 
direction of the winds used in reaching it, while the nature of 
the climate, the products of the country, and the descriptions of the 
peoples met with would naturally cling more tenaciously to the 
memory, although unusual traits were apt to be somewhat exagger- 
ated. The self-sown grain and the vine, mentioned by Adam of 
Bremen, the vine being furthermore incorporated in the name of 
the New Country, as referred to by Ari Frodi, must be the main 
pivot on which our research turns, and would alone seem sufficient 
to refute any theory placing Wineland somewhere on the Labrador 
coast or in Newfoundland, not to speak of the impossible theory 
of Mr. J. P. McLean and others, who even suggest the Northwestern 
regions of Greenland. 

Another observation that would easily cling to the memory is 
the one referring to the length of day in Wineland, and although not 
recorded in the earliest manuscript, it certainly makes a genuine 
impression. This is not the place to enter into an elaborate dis- 
cussion of the true significance of the term " eyktarstadr. " I can 
only say that I subscribe entirely to Mr. Reeves' opinion that 
the question has been finally solved by Prof. Storm. I am familiar 
with the use of the word " eykt " (mod. Okt.) in three widely-sepa- 
rated regions of Norway. It signifies everywhere at the present 
date the interval of time between the meals (an addition, from 
auka, to add), and in some places, as also evidently in Iceland in 
those early days, developed the secondary meaning of the end of 
the particular eykt, terminating in most places at four o'clock, in 
some localities as early as 3 or 3. 30, but very rarely as late as 4.30. 
The second part of the compound, however, points to a kind of sun- 
dial and octant, well known among the ancient Norwegians, and to 
the position of the sun in the horizon. "Eykt" in this sense is 
clearly defined in a paragraph in the ancient law-code "Gargas," 
and the expression used in the account of Leif would place the 
latitude recordednot farther north than 49^-50'. For it merely 
stated that the sun "had" or reached this point of the octant, 
whereby it is not denied that it may have passed somewhat farther. 
Prof. Horsford's explanation of this sentence is on a par with the 
rest of his exceedingly unscientific treatment of the subject. 

The description of Wineland as given in the Flatoe-book version 
did not give us any clue to its location. Let us now try with the one in 
Hauks-book. A prominent ness (Keelness) jutting out towards 
the north; a long sandy beach, a firth, one of the many, with an 



10 Norse Discoveries in America. 

island outside of it and marked tides running in and out (Straum- 
fjord) ; a considerable distance farther south a river flowing out of 
a lake in a rather mountainous country (Hop); and retracing our 
steps to the southwest of Keelness, about as far from Straumfjord 
as was Hop on the eastern side, a river flowing from the east to- 
ward the west from mountains which were judged to be identical 
with those in Hop on that very account. Where on the American 
coast can anything like it be found ? It is only too plain that the 
region around Boston does not fit the description at all. In order 
to make it at all probable that the Boston region was meant Prof. 
Horsford had to chop up the saga of Thorfin* in a most uncalled- 
for and pitiless manner; and the worst of the matter is that he 
could not even then make his case good. While it is evident from 
the context of the saga that Thorfin, on his return from Hop, when 
searching for Thorhal, sailed to the southwest after having rounded 
Kjalarnes, proceeding till he came to a river that flowed from the 
east toward the west, at the mouth of which he lay by, Prof. Hors- 
ford succeeds in making himself believe that this applies wonder- 
fully well to the Charles River, which flows in that direction for a 
little distance between Cambridge cemetery and Warren bridge 
(p. 79). This is assuredly giving us stones for bread. The same 
wonderful brand of logic makes Thorvald (p. 68) explore the same 
river, when it is stated in the saga that " they proceeded along the 
western coast " from Leif's booths. It is only eclipsed by the ease 
with which he makes him return to Gurnet from Cape Cod (his 
Keelness), when the saga expressly states that "they sailed away 
thence to the eastward." 

The case stands somewhat better with those that follow the sug- 
gestion of Prof. Rafn, and place Wineland, and more especially Hop^ 
somewhere in Rhode Island. Cape Cod being the only place in New 
England that to some extent answers the requirements of Kjalarnes, 
Hop must, as a matter of course, lie farther to the south ; and as far 
as this goes any river on the New England coast flowing out from 
a lake near by would help us out. If we only had to consider the 
location, Monomy (Horsford) would do fairly well for Straumey, 
and for several reasons better than one of the islands outside of 
Buzzard's Bay (Rafn and others). There is, however, not the 
slightest indication that the explorers sailed straight west from 
Straumey, the saga on the contrary using the terms "southward "" 
and on returning " northward." And how explain the fact that 



* In " The Landfall of Leif Erikson." It is difficult to believe that this vandal- 
ism can have been committed in good faith. 



Norse Discoveries in America. 11 

Thorfin, after rounding Keelness, proceeded westward and south- 
ward till he came to a river that flowed from the east towards the 
west ? There is no such river on the Cape Cod peninsula. Again, 
what of the mountains which they found there and judged to be 
identical with those in Hop, because they had now proceeded 
about as far on the western side of an island or peninsula as they 
previously had on the eastern? 

Mr. L. G. Power, in Vol. 8 of the New England Magazine, 
sticking tenaciously to the small number of " doegr " consumed in 
sailing from Bjarney, which he wrongly identifies with Disco, to 
the Kjalarnes of Wineland, tries to show that the latter point may 
be identical with Cape Chudley, the George River emptying into 
the Ungava Bay being the river mentioned, flowing from the east 
towards the west. This would look quite plausible as far as the 
shape of the coast is concerned, although the correct interpretation 
of the language of the saga, as given in the best manuscript, requires 
the same mountains for both regions east and west and not merely 
widely different parts of the same chain. And what of the vine, 
the self-sown grain, and the mild winters, not to speak of the state- 
ment regarding the more southern latitude ? The whole theory 
breaks down at the slightest touch of criticism. It can easily be 
proved that this Bjarney could not have been Disco, any more 
than one of the islands on the Cumberland coast, suggested by Mr. 
J. T. Smith. 

In the Proceedings, Royal Society of Canada, 1898, Bishop M. F. 
Howley advocates a new theory, placing Helluland near Point Riche, 
Newfoundland, where are found some remarkable flat stones, Mark- 
land in one of the Magdalen islands, and Wineland around Miramichi 
Bay. This is again a case of sacrificing the whole for the part. It is 
completely at variance with the text of the sagas to look for Hellu- 
land at the western coast of an island. Markland is, according to 
the best version, situated to the southeast. And, finally, the descrip- 
tion of Kjalarnes, Wonderstrands, Straumey, and the distant Hop 
far to the south is entirely misleading if we select the coast of New 
Brunswick. 

But there is such a peninsula as the one described in the saga 
on the eastern coast of North America. Supposing that Thorfin 
and his men sailed from an island near Fiskerfjord, in the Western 
Settlement, as thinks Prof. Storm, they would then most probably 
first strike some part of Labrador. Finding it extremely uninvit- 
ing, they again made for the open sea, with a west-northwesterly 
wind, and next struck either the northeastern coast of Labrador, 

l.ofC. 



12 Norse Discoveries in America. 

opposite Newfoundland — which latter, or more probably Belle 
Isle, then would be the island mentioned — or some part of New- 
foundland farther east. They then proceeded along the coast of 
Labrador, and finally set straight south, or along the coast of New- 
foundland, rounding Cape Race and steering west-southwest, keep- 
ing the southern shore in sight for a long time.* In either case they 
could very easily strike Capes North, Egmont, or Breton. Prof. 
Storm suggests Cape Breton; but if we stick to the description of 
the sagas, I venture to think that Cape North or Cape Egmont 
meets the requirements of the case better, although less easily 
stumbled over from Newfoundland. If we select Cape North, 
Wonderstrands would be the long, comparatively unindented, 
partly sandy coast-line between that cape and St. Ann's Bay. The 
Firth, into which they stood, need not have been the very first met 
with. It might have been Mira Bay, outside of which is Scatari 
Island, that to all appearances could do very well for Straumey. 
Not finding the climate or natural conditions of the country up to 
their expectations, it is now conceivable that Thorhal wished to 
sail northward again and look for Wineland, on the western shore, 
of which they had evidently caught a glimpse in approaching Capes 
North and Egmont. 

Karlsefni, however, proceeded southward for a long time, finally 
lying by at the mouth of a river that flowed out of a lake and could 
not be entered with their craft, drawing some seven feet of water, 
except at flood-tide. There are many small rivers in Nova Scotia 
between the Gut of Canso, which the explorers naturally regarded 
as a firth, and the southern extremity of the peninsula, that will 
meet the requirements ; but if I am correct in placing Streamfirth as 
far north as Mira Bay, Hop (the true Wineland) could not very well 
have been farther south than Halifax. 

Retracing his course, Karlsefni and his men then rounded Cape 
North in search of '^I'horhall, proceeding along the western shore 
for a considerable distance, finally stopping at one of the rivers 
flowing there from the east towards the west, coming from mount- 
ains which they judged to be identical with those seen in Hop. If 
they were approximately correct in this surmise, they must have 
passed the St. George's Bay, and stopped at one of the small rivers 
flowing out in the Northumberland Strait, east of Merigomish Har- 
bour, the divide of Guysborough and Halifax being the mountains 
mentioned. Directly opposite Merigomish Harbour is St. Mary's 
Bay; but being much nearer to Mira Bay (Streamfirth), we are no 



* The exact direction of the wind is not mentioned in this case. 



Norse Discoveries in America. ■ 13"' 

doubt justified in placing Hop farther south. On leaving the coun- 
try for good they again struck Labrador or Newfoundland, and' 
then seem to have set sail directly for the Eastern Settlement. 

Turning now to the other features of Nova Scotia, its latitude is- 
sufficiently different from that of Greenland to arrest the attention 
of the explorers. There is little difficulty about the wild rice and 
vine, especially the latter, which was found there in abundance some 
five hundred years later by Jacques Cartier and others, and still is 
here and there met with, if not in a sufficient quantity, to justify the 
statements of the Hauks-book. It is true that the winter in Hop is 
described as snowless. But taken literally, this would point to a 
more southern latitude than anybody has yet ventured to claim for 
Wineland, and we may be well justified in regarding this as a slight 
exaggeration, reasonably accounted for by their comparing the 
climate with that of Greenland and Iceland. 

The only weak point in the theory of Prof. Storm, and less so- 
in the one here advocated by myself, is, in my opinion, the rather 
unfrequent occurrence of sandy shores between Cape North and the 
Gut of Canso. As a matter of fact, however, there is in the In- 
gonish Bay, which is wide and open, a sandy beach of considerable 
length — at least one mile. For this I have the very best authority — 
viz., a letter from the Director of the Geological Survey of Canada — 
and this would, according to my view, be the identical place where 
the explorers lay by while waiting for the return of the Scotch mes- 
sengers — an incident that has given the advocates of the barren 
Cape Cod peninsula any amount of trouble. It is, therefore, ex- 
tremely probable that the explorers expressly mentioned this sandy 
beach when relating their story in Greenland and Iceland, and the 
first historian that committed the account to writing was not far off 
the mark when he wrote that " there were long shores and stretches 
of sandy beach there." 

We must, furthermore, remember that the name given to this 
shore is our most reliable clue to its whereabouts, and that " Furdu- 
strandir" has nothing whatever to do with sand. It is true that 
"furtha" in Icelandic meant "a wonder," but as a qualifying term 
" furthu " generally must be rendered by "wonderfully big or 
extensive," and the most correct translation of the name in ques- 
tion is the "wonderfully extensive strands." That this is the true 
explanation is also evident from the statement of the saga itself, 
that these shores received that name " because they were so long 
to sail by." And in this respect the 60 miles long, almost entirely 



14 Norse Discoveries in A in erica. 

unindented, coast-line from Cape North to St, Mary's Bay can well 
stand comparison with the much shorter Cape Cod peninsula. 

And then we have another piece of evidence that more than 
counterbalances the sandy shores of Cape Cod. According to 
De Costa, wild grapes are even to-day growing there among the 
shrubs, within the very reach of the ocean spray. But if that is 
the case, why did Thorfin dispatch two messengers to the south to 
search for an article which must have been there in abundance, 
right under his eyes? And why did they not even discover any 
grapes in Straumey, as plainly shown in the saga, if this was iden- 
tical with Monomy or Martha's Vineyard? This extremely impor- 
tant fact has, singularly enough, been overlooked by everybody ; and 
yet it is worth more than all the bushels of sand that have blinded 
the eyes of Prof. Horsford and other uncritical defenders of an un- 
tenable theory. It is self-evident that Thorhal the Huntsman need 
not have despaired of finding Wineland on the eastern coast if he 
had already reached Martha's Vineyard. But we may forgive him if 
he spoke contemptuously of the lack of wine and the other unprom- 
ising features of Scatari Island. 

As regards Markland, it seems clear to me that there is no 
serious objection to placing it in the southern part of Labrador. 
We must remember in this connection that the explorers came from 
almost entirely treeless regions, and were apt to be satisfied and 
even surprised at the first sight of a comparatively insignificant 
patch of real forest land. And, as a matter of fact, the Labrador 
coast is by no means everywhere the barren, sterile affair that most 
people imagine. 

In the third edition of the Newfoundland and Labrador Pilot, 
1897, we read that St. Lewis Inlet, situated only a short distance 
north of Belle Isle — the very region where, in my opinion, the ex- 
plorers may have landed the second time — can boast of a fine forest 
vegetation at the very mouth of the bay. An island inside, even, 
has the significant name Wood Island, and in the bottom of the 
inlet the trees are large enough to be used by the Newfoundlanders 
for their schooners and boats. This region, then, decidedly de- 
served to be christened Markland. As for the sand, our troublesome 
friend from Wineland, there is no such thing attributed to Mark- 
land in the best manuscript. And, if it should come to a pinch, the 
explorers need only have followed the coast to Pinware Bay, where, 
according to the Pilot, a fine sandy beach w'ould have greeted their 
eyes. That something like this was the case seems more than 
probable, when we remember that nothing in the saga speaks 



Norse Discoveries in America. 15 

against it, and that tlieir errand was to explore countries that had 
already been, to some extent, located. 

With regard to Helluland only a few remarks need be added. 
Every person familiar with Old Norse, as well as modern Norwegian 
and Icelandic, will know that the name must refer to loose, flat 
stones, as stated in the Hauks-book, and not to a single fiat rock, 
'as wrongly given in the Flatoe-book. And he will only pity Prof. 
Horsford, who naively reproduces a picture from the east coast of 
Newfoundland, in which the ruffled rocks depicted have no more 
resemblance with "hellur" than with the man in the moon. But 
pity will be mingled with astonishment when he reads that the ice- 
bergs floating in the distance are the inland glaciers described in 
the last-named saga as forming the border of the rock. Surely this 
kind of historical research needs a strong money-backing to get into 
print. That some real good-sized "hellur" are to be found some- 
where on the vast Labrador coast must, with our present knowledge 
of the country, seem altogether too probable. Both the Arctic 
foxes of the only reliable saga and the glaciers of the Flatoe-book 
decidedly point to a high latitude, not to speak of the fact that the 
region presumably was entirely treeless. 

I must, therefore, maintain that the Nova Scotia theory, on the 
whole, offers by far the fewest difficulties, and I am unable to see 
any good reason why we should rather select Cape Cod. The only 
justification for doing so must certainly be positive archaeological 
evidence. This has, as already mentioned, failed to appear, 
in spite of the praiseworthy efforts of those who have so earnestly 
sought it. If I am not mistaken, very few competent archaeologists 
or historians take Prof. Horsford's extremely uncritical philo- 
logical deductions or his Norse ruins seriously. His etymological 
speculations on Norumbega, Cape Carenas, and America are more 
than sufficient to put any person possessing a philological training 
on his guard. The first mentioned of these names, employed on 
some of the earliest maps to designate a region south of the St. 
Lawrence, may with the utmost confidence be said to have as little 
to do with Norway (mod. Norwegian " Norge " about year i,ooo, 
and later "Noregr. ") as with Watertown on the Charles. 

I am, however, inclined to think that Mr. Weise was equally 
wrong in connecting it with the Palisades of the Hudson, explain- 
ing the word as a corruption of " Anormee Berge," the "great 
scarp." Space forbids my taking up this difficult subject here; but 
in my opinion the earliest form of the word " Noranbega " stands 
for Normanbega, the latter part of the compound being, as already 



16 Norse Discoveries in Arnerica. 

suggested by De Costa, the Spanish " vega," meaning a ''plain at 
the mouth of a river." The name seems, as every historian knows, 
to date from Verrazano, whose expedition started from Normandy, 
in France. It is first found in a map ascribed to his brother, and 
there evidently corresponds to the " Normanvilla," given on the 
five years' older Majollo map, also founded on Verrazano's ex- 
pedition. My explanation is that the said brother, knowing that 
no town had been found on the entire coast, changed "villa" to 
*' vega " — a term then current on Spanish maps. The first letters of 
the word as given by him are in fact illegible, and the "r" in 
. . . ranbega, commonly read out of it, may be part of an "m." 
Later this letter was dropped for reasons that need not here be 
stated, and the other forms, like " Nuremberg " and " Norvega," 
are easily explained as the product of ignorance and a false inter- 
pretation. The theory propounded by Beauvois and others, plac- 
ing a permanent Norse settlement somewhere in Nova Scotia or 
New Brunswick, not to speak of New England, is only supported by 
the slenderest thread of evidence, while the entire Old-Icelandic 
literature, as a matter of fact, goes directly against it. And even 
if such a settlement was effectuated, the chances are a hundred to 
one that it would not have received the name of "Noreg"or 
" Nordanviga. " 

Still more fanciful is the derivation of Cape Carenas, which 
probably did not even designate Cape Cod on an early map. It 
tries the patience of a philologist sorely to find Carenas on Lok's 
map through Coaranes or Merriam's traced back to Kjolrnes, 
Kjalarnes, "probably learned from natives, the offspring of mixed 
parentage" (p. 12). We have, of course, to do with the Italian 
or Spanish Carenas (Lat. CarincB^ French Carlnes), which means 
Keels, and evidently refers to the shape of the cape. 

This does not refute the theory that the Norsemen struck the 
identical cape and gave it the name of Kjalarnes for the same 
reason. But it is certainly enough to prove that no connection 
was at all necessary between those two events. 

Of the derivation of America from Erik the Red through the in- 
termediate forms of Ereka, Emereka, Mr. McLean pointedly says; 
" This method of treating philology is enough to cause the bones 
of Sir William Jones to turn in their grave." 

The few specimens of the testimony to be derived from names 
of places as introduced by Prof. Horsford will probably suffice for 
most readers. After considering them, one does not feel surprised 
at all in noticing the ease with which he pointed out a Norwegian 



Norse Discoveries in America. 17 

fish-pit here and a building site there, not to speak of shoals, islands, 
capes, and landing-places. But we cannot help feeling that the 
corroborative evidence of an eye-witness less apt to be carried away 
by his enthusiasm would be very desirable. I understand that 
Miss Cornelia Horsford is still working on the same lines, and hope 
that after all some valuable piece of evidence may be forthcoming.* 
It is now the only means by which thoughtful students of the sagas 
can be brought to change their conviction that the Norse explorers 
most probably never passed the southern extremity of Nova Scotia. 

As pointed out by many, the chances are, however, very small 
that anything will be found, for the simple reason that the Norse- 
men, as already mentioned, evidently failed to effect a settlement of 
the country. The sagas do not contain a single statement from 
which to draw the opposite conclusion, and Prof. Fiske justly lays 
stress on the fact that no descendants of European domestic animals 
were ever met with in North America 500 years later. The only 
structures erected by the explorers, probably, were the dwellings of 
Thorfin, possibly wooden frame houses (budir, booths) resting on 
corner-stones or wooden blocks, for which it would be vain to look 
at this late date. The fish-pits dug in the sand would not, under 
favorable circumstances, last for fifty years, and the palisades would 
rot down long before the advent of the 19th century. An axe or 
sword-blade might be found, it is true; but until some such relic is 
produced we shall be justified in expecting it to turn up in Nova 
Scotia rather than in New England, however fervently our patriotism 
may desire the latter alternative. 

Space forbids my consideration of the historic importance of 
this early discovery of the New World and its relation to that of 
Columbus. Even most Norwegians have of late little patience with 
the childish exaggerations of Miss Mary Brown, now Mrs, Shipley, 
and the efforts to belittle the deed of the Genoese explorer; and 
they look upon the feat of the Norsemen as one of those interesting 
premature exertions of which history records so many. The Leif 
Erikson Monument Society of Chicago, which has been striving 
hard to erect a monument for Leif in 1900, did not succeed in rais- 
ing the necessary funds in time. The excellent Norwegian sculptor, 
Mr. Sigvald Asbjornsen, is, however, at present hard at work with 

* Her article in the December number, 1899, of the Popular Science Monthly, 
did not, so far as I can see, add anything of interest to the solution of the question. 
She most uncritically accepts her father's view of the sagas, and the sober statements 
of Mr. Erlingsson and Dr. Gudmundsson, appended to her article, seem completely 
to dispose of the alleged Norse ruins discovered. 



18 Norse Discoveries in America. 

the elaboration of a splendid model which has received the unani- 
mous approval of an art committee. The statue is to be unveiled 
next spring. It is sure to be a fitting celebration of the final ad- 
mittance into the text-books of this country of a much-abused 
historical fact. 

LlliKAKY OF C(JNGRESS. 



